Italian Present Indicative

Italian verbs need to be conjugated, that is to say,  their ending is inflected for agreement with subject, number, tense and mood. There are three basic conjugations that follow their own pattern when conjugating a verb.

Formation

The present is a simple tense, which means it does not need an auxiliary verb in its construction. When conjugating an Italian verb, you start from the infinitive form of that verb. The infinitive form tells you what kind of verb you are dealing with and the conjugation pattern it belongs to. For example:

                 parlare (to speak) is a verb belonging to the first conjugation.

You remove the ending (-are; -ere; -ire), in this case -are:

                 parl-

This way, you get the stem of the verb. You now need to add the correct ending, depending on the subject and the conjugation pattern you must follow. For example:

                (io)     parlo                    I speak                (tu)    parli                      You speak               (loro)  parlano               They speak

Regular verbs

All the regular verbs follow a certain pattern depending on the conjugation they belong to. As you can see below, some endings are the same for all three patterns, whereas others are different.     

Irregular verbs

We define “irregular” those verbs whose conjugation differs in some way from the standard one. They show endings of their own and sometimes the entire verb looks completely different. The only effective way to remember them is to learn them by heart, especially because some of the most common verbs are indeed irregular. Let’s see some examples:  

Pronominal verbs

Another group of verbs worth mentioning is the one of pronominal verbs, in other words, verbs that present a pronominal particle. Reflexive verbs can be included in this group. They are conjugated the same way as the other verbs. The only difference is the presence of the pronominal particle that is always placed before the conjugated verb in the present tense.

Uses

The present tense is perhaps the most used tense in everyday language which is why it is usually the first tense you learn. It can be used:

1) to express an action occurring at the moment of speaking

Noi siamo stanchi.                           We are tired.Papà mangia una pizza.                 Dad is eating a pizza.Io leggo un libro.                               I’m reading a book.Lei apre la porta.                               She opens the door.

2) to express habitual actions, or a typical fact or quality regarding the subject

Io bevo un caffè ogni mattina.          I drink coffee every morning.Lei prende il treno il lunedì.              She took the train on Mondays.Noi viviamo a Milano.                          We live in Milan.Tu lavori in banca.                                 You work in a bank.

3) to express a state that is generally regarded as true

L’acqua bolle a cento gradi.               Water boils at one hundred degrees.Roma è la capitale dell’Italia.            Rome is the capital of Italy.

4) to express future actionsThe present tense is used to refer to future actions mainly when they are planned or, in any case, when they are very likely to happen. In these case, the present tense is usually accompanied by expressions of time, such as:

domani                                        tomorrowtra una settimana                   in a weekmese prossimo                        next monthil prossimo anno                     next yearDomani parto per Venezia.                     I’m leaving for Venice tomorrow.Mamma torna tra una settimana.        Mom will be back in a week.Il museo apre mese prossimo.              The museum opens next month.Il prossimo anno ci sposiamo.               We’re getting married next year.

5) Historical and narrative presentAs it happens in other languages, Italian speakers can use the present tense to talk about events in the past or, for example, when you are telling a story or the plot of a movie or a book.

Napoleone muore nel 1821.                    Napoleon died in 1821.Cenerentola va al ballo in carrozza.     Cinderella goes to the ball in a carriage.